Workshop Applications

Take a look at the 2025 Workshop and the 2024 Workshop

2026 Workshop

The Eastern Workshop:

Using Cognitive Approaches with People Who Stutter

Dates: Dates to Be Announced

Location: Boston University

Objective: This one-week course will provide speech-language pathologists with an introduction to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) and Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) in relation to the assessment and treatment of stuttering. Therapists will also be equipped to deliver Palin PCIT (Parent-Child Interaction Therapy), an evidence based therapy programme for young children who stutter.

Workshop Faculty:

Elaine Kelman, MSc, FRCSLT, MRCSLT, Cert CBT, is Consultant Speech and Language Therapist and head of the Michael Palin Centre. She has worked clinically in stuttering and cluttering, contributing to the development of the Centre’s therapy programmes, particularly in early stuttering, co-authoring the Palin Parent Child Interaction Therapy manuals. She has also contributed to the development and delivery of the Centre’s training programme, as well the research into the nature of stammering and the effectiveness of the Centre’s therapy, publishing in peer reviewed journals and presenting at conferences internationally. Elaine is the chair of the Board of the Certified European Stuttering Specialists, a specialist advisor for the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and Professional Lead for the Whittington Health Speech and Language Therapy service.

Ali Berquez, MSc, PG Dip. CT (Oxford), BRIEF Cert. SF Practice, MRCSLT, is Clinical Lead at the Michael Palin Centre working with clients who stutter and clutter of all ages, as well as providing clinical supervision, professional training and conference presentations to therapists nationally and internationally. She is Chair of the UK National Stammering Clinical Excellence Network and a registered Certified European Stuttering Specialist. Ali contributes to the Centre’s research programme and has published a number of peer-reviewed articles, as well as co-authoring a Solution Focused Brief Therapy manual for working with children who stammer and their parents.

Sarah Delpeche, MSc, BSc(Hons), MRCSLT, is Operational Lead and senior member of the therapy team at the Michael Palin Centre. She works with clients of all ages who stutter and clutter, teaches nationally and internationally via the Centre’s training programme and is part of the Centre’s research team. She has published several peer-reviewed articles and presented at international conferences. Sarah is a Certified European Stuttering Specialist and manages the webinar programme for the Certified European Stuttering Specialists.

Conference Coordinator: Caroline Brinkert, M.S., CCC-SLP, Boston University

IMPORTANT DEADLINE TO APPLY: TBD

Applications Coming Soon

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURES
Elaine Kelman: Receives an honorarium from the Stuttering Foundation for teaching the workshop. She has a financial relationship with Speechmark Publishing for receiving book royalties.
Ali Berquez: Receives an honorarium from the Stuttering Foundation for teaching the workshop.

Sarah Delpeche: Receives an honorarium from the Stuttering Foundation for teaching the workshop.

NONFINANCIAL DISCLOSURES
Elain Kelman: None
Ali Berquez: None

Sarah Delpeche: None

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CELEBRITY FOCUS

Mel Tillis

Mel Tillis, born Lonnie Melvin Tillis, was an influential figure in country music, both as a songwriter and a performer. His journey to fame was marked by overcoming personal challenges, including a stutter that he turned into a defining part of his public persona.

Frank Wolf

This Virginian congressman has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1981. The longtime supporter of the Stuttering Foundation drew national attention to childhood stuttering in 2006 when he submitted an article about Tiger Woods from the SFA newsletter to the Congressional Record. The congressman is featured in the Stuttering Foundation's Famous People Who Stutter brochure.

John Stossel

John Stossel is one of the most recognized and articulate reporters today. However, he once considered giving up his broadcasting career because of his stuttering.

“Fear of stuttering can easily become worse than the stuttering itself,” observed Stossel. “The idea that I’m on television and making speeches is still a shock to me sometimes.”

Lewis Carroll

The recent Disney version of Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice in Wonderland, garnered a great deal of media hype. Even though the mainstream media has not made mention that Carroll was a person who stuttered, his family history gives credence to the discovery of the genetic link to stuttering. Carroll was born to parents who were first cousins; almost all of their eleven children, three girls and seven boys, struggled with stuttering past childhood.

Bob Love

The late Bob Love dreamt about being a great public speaker since his early days in Bastrop Louisiana, even though, as a young man, he could barely put two words together, let alone speak a full sentence.

In spite of his severe stuttering disability, Bob Love, the son of a sharecropper, rose to become a Chicago Bulls NBA superstar, whose records were eventually surpassed by Michael Jordan. Throughout his entire athletic career, Bob Love kept his stuttering a secret from the fans who adored him, thinking he could do his “talking” on the basketball court.